


Last Time

by kuusewa



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, M/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-26 11:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5002456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuusewa/pseuds/kuusewa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A one-shot in which Jean must pick up a semi-drunk Armin late at night and things don't go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fanfic portion of the SNK Artist Network Big Bang. It was inspired by the House episode House's Head. My partner was tumblr@le-petit-gateau-du-riz/@lylnme. Thank you for putting up with me and being just an overall great collaborator!! Check out the art that goes with this story: http://lylnme.tumblr.com/post/132698180647/my-part-on-big-bang-challenge-these-go-along

3:30pm: "I might be home a little late. Some people at work invited me to go to a bar after work."

"Why?"

"Just a day for a breather. A group of seven will be there so it's going to be fine."

"Okay." Pause. "Bye."

"Bye. I love you." 

"When will you be home?"

A laugh from the other line. "You can't keep talking after 'goodbye'." Some breathing. "You suck at goodbyes." 

A smile. "Okay then. Bye."

"Bye."

 

~*~

 

7pm: Someone had left the window open and Jean's feet are sold and stiff. Too lazy to get up from his napping position, he watches the mosquitoes acting dumb under a streetlight's light outside his window. There are only about ten, he guesses, much less than there were in the summer. They must have been warm under the light. Socks sound great at the moment. 

 

~*~

 

8pm: Naps are supposed to be about forty five minutes. Four hours is close enough. Five is better.

 

~*~

 

11pm: "Hello?"

"Jean?" 

Jean sits up and huffs. "Armin." Not quite sure if that was a question or just to say it. 

Armin sobs. Jean leaves the house.

 

~*~

 

11:45pm: The bar is just brown, but different shades. It's a slow night and the bartender was bored enough to sit on a chair, wiping away nothing at all. Before Jean could ask if he had seen a blond with blue eyes and a white shirt, he spots Armin with his head in his arms at a booth. A woman, too high to even open her eyes, lays back with a big grin on her face and tears streaming down her eyes. She sudden short snort surprises Jean, which instinctively makes him take Armin's hand. He doesn't pull, scared that he may frighten Armin with such a sudden force. Armin doesn't move at all but he's breathing lightly. Jean sits beside him. "What are you doing here?" seems a little too angry for the moment. And Armin can be either a sad or gleeful drunk. 

Jean rests his head on his arm so they're at the same level. "You okay?" Jean murmurs into Armin's hair. 

"Can we take the bus?" Armin asks back. 

"Are you sure you don't want to rest a little longer?" 

Armin squeezes Jean's fingers in between his. Jean let go and helps Armin up his back in piggyback position. As much as he is tired, Armin still hangs on. His breathing is light and steady, and his tiny hands are cold. Everything about him is suddenly small. His weak, hanging arms and thin frame makes Jean think that he hadn't had anything solid to eat in the past some hours. Even a piece of bread would do him good. 

With a small "thanks" to the bartender, Jean walks passed his car and to the nearest bus stop. No one is there except a little, old lady and her granddaughter. The kid gets up to allow Jean set a sleeping Armin down on her spot of the bench. He smiles at her as he puts his jacket around Armin's shoulders. 

Without looking at them, the grandmother says, "Long night, huh?" 

Jean, without looking at her either, replies, "Yeah. It's kind of strange." 

"It's a sign from God that we have to cherish this rare moment of relaxation." 

 

~*~

 

12:00am: Armin wakes up from his head suddenly jumping from the bus's bouncing. He immediately sneezes and rubs his eyes with his hands. Before stretching, he notices that his toes are resting over and behind the metal poles underneath the seats that are a bit loose. They make an obnoxious, clanging sound that could have waken the whole bus if he accidentally pulled them hard and quick enough. The bus was rather packed, almost every other seat taken, but no spots where Jean and Armin could sit next to each other. A sleeping woman in heavy layers and another woman who was watching out the front window are beside him. It's raining out, but the bus driver is driving a little fast. Jean is sitting across from him, watching.

He gets up and takes Armin's hand. "You alright?" 

Armin nods and smiles a little for extra reassurance. "Where are we?" 

"We're just two stops from home, but the last one might be a little longer." 

The bus drives over a bump and Jean loses his balance, falling from a kneel to on his knees. "Go back to your seat before you hurt yourself," Armin says, laughing a little. Jean obeys, just as the bus hits another but smaller bump. "You should sleep some."

Jean shakes his head. "I'm not tired." He is lying because of the rain but at the same time not really, blaming the too long nap he took before he came to the bar. 

 

~*~

 

12:10am: The rain is hitting harder. The bus driver starts struggling to see passed the raindrops on the window, but he isn't swerving. No one on the bus notices anything except a baby who wakes up crying about who-knows-what. 

 

~*~

 

12:14am: He is struggling. Really struggling. 

 

~*~

 

12:17am: Maybe he was struggling too hard. Or maybe the car in the intersection was also struggling. 

Whatever it was, everything fell slower than how gravity normally made everything fall. 

Before Jean could rush to hold on to the pole standing in the middle of the front half of the bus, the bus takes a sharp turn and the side of his head hits the pole and he flies towards the opposite side of the bus, in Armin's direction. 

But nothing makes sense. At least not to the people in the bus. 

The bus attempts to make a stop but it is too sudden. A force pushes Armin towards the back of the bus but Jean's jacket just slides down the floor. Jean makes an unintentional half-ass flip and the lower half of his body slams down on to the ground as someone else's head lands on his thigh. His head hurt too much to cuss. 

But other people didn't limit themselves. Screams. Clanging. And Crying. But many people around Jean are too shocked to say or weep for anything. 

 

~*~

 

12:23am: Jean opens his eyes and pushes heavy arms and legs off of him. 

It's dark and the world is spinning and his whole body ached. People were already getting up, slowly though, and were looking around for their stuff. A woman asks aloud if anyone sees a smartphone with a blue case and all of the babies and kids are crying, hoping, just somehow, that their parents could help them. Someone in the back calls the police and another asks if there was a doctor. Jean peeks behind him to see the bus driver was against the wheel. He's still and unresponsive to everything. He could be dead.

Dead?

"Armin," he chokes. He painfully lifts his head and awkwardly crawls to the back of the bus. He puts his weight on his right leg and elbow. His left leg is almost unmovable and his wrist shakes with every move his arm makes. 

He passes a groaning man lying on top of Jean's jacket and the woman searching for her phone. 

"Jean," he hears. Armin is up against a seat, his right leg tucked in and left lies in front of him. A long metal pole pokes through his inner thigh and out the other side. It came from the ones under the seats, many of them broke apart, unsurprisingly, and probably caused more serious injuries than there already is. Armin holds his leg and doesn't look at Jean, only at his leg, until Jean is just right beside him. Armin looks up at him, breathing heavily, panting almost. "Jean," he says again softly but in that panicky sense.

Armin goes pale and Jean probably does too. Everything is turning foggy. Nothing is in its original place and whatever was in Jean's stomach doesn't seem to want to stay put. Armin reaches for Jean's fingers as Jean does for Armin's. Armin lays his head on the floor. Jean dreads that. Something so precious shouldn't have to touch such a disgusting surface. Half of Armin's face is covered by his hair and Jean would do anything to push it back. 

Jean lays his head on the floor so they would be seeing eye to eye. "Stay with me." Jean doesn't know who said it. It could have just been his mind telling him to say it aloud but it was loud enough for him to believe they both heard it.

Armin whimpers, "I'm sorry. We shouldn't have taken the bus." He weeps as he barely grips on to the hem of Jean's shirt as if that was the only thing he could hold on. 

"It's okay," Jean tells him. Seeing Armin's tears, he repeats himself. "It's okay," he reassures a little louder as he hugs Armin tighter. "Just calm down. Panicking is no good." 

"You sound just like Eren and Mikasa."

Not really listening, Jean whispers, "Yeah, just think of Eren and Mikasa. They'll meet us at the hospital and take us home. Just a few more minutes, okay?" 

Sirens scream, and bright red and blue lights flash from the windows and the back of the bus. 

Jean listens as the car doors slam shut and a woman yells to hurry. Not looking down at Armin, he just says, "Just a few more minutes."

 

~*~

 

2:13am: "How is he?" 

Silence.

"Please. Tell me now."

Silence. 

"I'm sorry." 


End file.
